Implementation of Physical Exercise at the Workplace (IRMA08) - Healthcare Workers (IRMA)

The prevalence and consequences of musculoskeletal pain is considerable among healthcare workers, allegedly due to high physical work demands of healthcare work. Previous studies have shown promising results of physical exercise for relieving pain among different occupational groups, but the question remains whether such physical exercise should be performed at the workplace or in the private sphere at home. Performing physical exercise at the workplace together with colleagues may be more motivating for some employees and thus increase compliance. On the other hand, physical exercise at the workplace may be costly for the employers in terms of time spend. Thus, relevant ground exists to compare the efficacy of workplace- versus home-based training on musculoskeletal pain. This study investigates the effect of workplace-based versus home-based physical exercise on musculoskeletal pain among healthcare workers.

The main hypothesis is that physical exercise at the workplace for 10 weeks compared with physical exercise at home results in reduced musculoskeletal pain among healthcare workers.